Police at Glastonbury to test ‘legal highs’

Police at Glastonbury have set up an off-site laboratory to check the content of drugs sold as ‘legal highs’.

As reported by the BBC, “The Forensic Early Warning System allows government scientists to analyse and detect traces of potentially harmful and illegal substances.”

A spokesman for the police said, “Because there are so many new drugs, we know very little about them.”

A government minister for crime prevention, Baroness Browning, said the lab would “help protect young people from the real dangers posed by these drugs”.

“We must send a clear message to anyone who takes so-called legal highs: you are playing Russian roulette with your health,” she added.
Police had also hoped to test the sewage throughout the festival in order to ascertain which drugs were being used across the site.

But as the festival takes place on private land, in order to test the human waste they would need permission from the festival organisers.

The permission was something Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis was not prepared to give. In a statement he argued, “The drug culture these days has changed beyond belief. What a cheek to even suggest there’s a problem.”